Cabinet for keeping bottles, in particular bottles of wine

ABSTRACT

This cabinet comprises an enclosure for horizontally storing unopened bottles, and electric means for refrigerating the internal volume of this enclosure. To make it easier to keep opened bottles in the cabinet, while increasing the keeping quality of these opened bottles, the cabinet comprises stoppers for aspirating opened bottles arranged vertically in the internal volume of the enclosure. These vacuum stoppers are incorporated so as to be freely movable inside the enclosure and each delimit an aspiration passageway which emerges in a sealed manner in the neck of the opened bottle and which is connected to an electric vacuum pump via a flexible circuit. In addition, this pump is controlled by a manual on/off switch, supported by the vacuum stopper, so as to be activated when the air pressure in the vacuum stopper is greater than a predetermined value, for example equal to approximately 300 millibars below atmospheric pressure.

The present invention relates to a cabinet for keeping bottles, inparticular bottles of wine.

For the purpose of keeping beverages, such as wine, it is oftendesirable to place these liquids at a temperature that is both positiveand below the ambient temperature. Wine, whether it be white or red, istherefore tasted fully when it is kept at a temperature of between 8°and 17° C. To do this, there are refrigerated cabinets in the internallycooled enclosure of which the consumer stores bottles that are not yetopened, typically horizontally in order to optimize the quality ofkeeping of the wine contained in these bottles.

This solution is satisfactory so long as the bottles of wine are notopened. On the other hand, as soon as the consumer takes a bottle out ofthe cabinet and opens it to consume only a portion of its content, hecan no longer put the opened bottle back into the cabinet, unless hetakes the precaution of stoppering that bottle in an extremely securemanner in order to prevent leaks of wine once the bottle is repositionedand stored horizontally, it being furthermore noted that it is notadvisable to keep an opened bottle of wine horizontally for reasons ofrapid spoiling of the wine. In addition, in this case, the consumer mustbe careful to mark in the cabinet the bottle or bottles thus opened inorder to prevent opening others without having finished the bottlesopened first.

In this context, US-A-2006/090427 has proposed a refrigerated cabinetfitted with an electric vacuum pump which, in service, may be connected,via a special vacuum hose, to the opening of an opened bottle in orderto aspirate it. In practice, the aforementioned vacuum pump is activatedby a manual switch incorporated into a front wall of the refrigeratedcabinet. The result of this is that the operation to aspirate thisspecial hose, notably its sealed connection to the bottle, is totallyseparate from the operation of actuating the vacuum pump, by operatingthe front switch. In these conditions, the user of this refrigeratedcabinet can carry out these two operations only in a successive manner,which is awkward and not very reliable.

The object of the present invention is to make the use of a refrigeratedcabinet extremely easy making it possible to effectively keep openedbottles.

Accordingly, the subject of the invention is a cabinet for keepingbottles, in particular bottles of wine, comprising:

an enclosure for horizontally storing unopened bottles,

electric means for refrigerating the internal volume of the enclosure,

at least one vacuum stopper for an opened bottle arranged vertically inthe internal volume of the enclosure, this vacuum stopper beingincorporated so as to be freely movable inside the enclosure anddelimiting an aspiration passageway that is suitable for emerging in asealed manner in the neck of the opened bottle, and which is connectedto an electric vacuum pump via a circuit that is at least partlyflexible, and

control means for controlling the vacuum pump, which are suitable foractivating the vacuum pump when the air pressure in the aspirationpassageway is greater than a predetermined value and which comprise amanual on/off switch supported by the vacuum stopper.

The basic idea of the invention is both to provide, within therefrigerated enclosure of the cabinet, one or more vertical storageplaces for one or more opened bottles and, above all, to incorporateinto this cabinet a function for aspirating this or these openedbottles. Specifically, by aspirating a bottle of wine that haspreviously been opened, that is to say deprived of its original stoppertypically made of cork, the user limits contact between the winecontained in the bottle and the oxygen of the air, this contact in timespoiling the gustatory and organoleptic qualities of the wine. At thesame time, according to the invention, the bottle thus aspirated is keptat a given cooled temperature, below the ambient temperature of theeveryday living room in which the cabinet is installed, which makes itpossible to have a bottle ready for service while the wine that itcontains is at a temperature appropriate for being tasted.

The cabinet according to the invention is extremely easy to use. On theone hand, when the user wishes to store an opened bottle in thiscabinet, he naturally places it vertically in the enclosure of thecabinet and then takes the or one of the vacuum stoppers and places iton the top of the neck of the bottle very easily because of the greatmobility of this stopper inside the enclosure. With the same hand as wasused to thus place the vacuum stopper on the bottle, he operates theswitch to control the actuation of the electric vacuum pump. In otherwords, the vacuum stopper according to the invention may be handled inone and the same movement for stopping the neck of the bottle and forcontrolling the aspiration of this bottle under the effect of the vacuumpump. The user may then use his other hand, if necessary, to stabilizethe bottle, without lengthening the overall time necessary for theapplication of the invention. On the other hand, in service, the vacuumpump incorporated into the cabinet is activated in order to assure theuser that, both during the initial aspiration and later, a satisfactorylevel of evacuation is maintained in the top portion of the openedbottle. This activation, which may be qualified as automatic, of thevacuum pump makes it possible to readjust this level of evacuation atall times, in particular when, eventually, the seal between the vacuumstopper and the neck of the bottle diminishes to allow a slight amountof outside air into the top portion of the bottle. Advantageously, thecombination of this automatic activation of the pump and the freedom ofmovement of the vacuum stopper causes the head to reposition itself onthe neck of the bottle in order to enhance the seal of their contact,for example when the user has not rigorously centered the stopper onthis neck or else has not sufficiently pushed into this neck the outletof the aspiration passageway delimited by the stopper.

Other advantageous features of the cabinet according to the invention,taken in isolation or in all the technically possible combinations, arespecified in the appended claims.

The invention will be better understood on reading the followingdescription, given only as an example and made with reference to thedrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in elevation of a keeping cabinet according to theinvention, in which both unopened and opened bottles are stored;

FIG. 2 is a view in perspective, partially exploded in schematic manner,of the cabinet of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are views in perspective, from different angles ofobservation, of a vacuum stopper belonging to the cabinet of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are views in perspective at respective angles ofobservation that are identical to those of FIGS. 3 and 4, in which aportion of the vacuum stopper is not shown in order to display theinside of this stopper; and

FIG. 7 is an electric schematic diagram relating to the function ofaspiration by the stopper of FIGS. 3 and 4.

FIGS. 1 and 2 represent a cabinet 1 for keeping bottles of wine. Thiscabinet 1 is a furniture item, typically designed to be installed in aliving room of a house, such as a kitchen or a lounge.

The cabinet 1 comprises a closed outer enclosure 6, which in thisinstance has a generally parallelepipedal outer shape and which definesa main internal volume V₆ in which the bottles of wine to be kept arestored. This volume V₆ is delimited by a ceiling wall 6A and floor wall6B of the enclosure 6, and by side walls of the enclosure including anopening door 6C which, in the open position as in-figures 1 and 2,allows the user to access the volume V₆ via the front side of thecabinet 1.

Amongst the bottles of wine kept in the cabinet 1, there are bottles 2,ten in number in the exemplary embodiment considered in the figures,which are stored horizontally in the volume V₆, lying on horizontalracks 8 arranged in a tiered manner in the enclosure V₆, and two bottles3 and 4, which are stored vertically and which are placed one above theother, in this instance generally in the vertical extension of oneanother. In the present document, it is considered that a bottle isvertical when its longitudinal direction is vertical, with its neckdirected upward, while a bottle is considered horizontal when itslongitudinal direction is parallel to a flat surface, typically thefloor or a storage shelf, on which the enclosure 6 rests in service in afixed manner.

The top bottle 3 rests upright on a specific horizontal support 10, inthis instance generally disk-shaped, and connected rigidly to theenclosure 6, while the bottom bottle 4 rests upright on a specifichorizontal support 11, situated vertically beneath the support 10 and inthis instance incorporated into the floor wall 6B of the enclosure 6.The supports 10 and 11 have respective top faces shaped to stabilize thebottles 3 and 4 in the vertical position.

In order to keep the bottles 2, 3 and 4 at a substantially constanttemperature, below the ambient temperature, the cabinet 1 isrefrigerated, that is to say that it is fitted with electric means 12for refrigerating the volume V₆, only visible schematically in FIG. 2.These refrigeration means 12 convert electric energy, originating from asource not shown, typically the mains, via an electric cable 14, intorefrigeration carried by cooled air flows admitted into the volume V₆and indicated by arrows 16 in FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, these refrigeration means 12 are arranged, at leastfor the main part, in a region 18 of the cabinet 1 that is situated inthe bottom and on the rear side of this cabinet. The air flows 16 travelfrom this region 18 to the volume V₆ through a slotted wall 20 partiallydelimiting the volume V₆, so that, for reasons given below, these airflows are preferably exclusively admitted into the bottom portion of thevolume V₆, for example in this instance into the bottom quarter of thisvolume.

Advantageously, notably in order to prevent adversely affecting therelative humidity of the air in the volume V₆, the refrigeration means12 are designed so that the minimum temperature of the cooled air flows16 that they produce is strictly above 0° C., the refrigeration means 12therefore being cooled at positive cold refrigeration. In practice,these refrigeration means 12 are made in the form of one or more Peltierelements or else comply with the technical teachings of the Frenchpatent applications filed by the present Applicant and registered underthe numbers 06 05775 and 07 59432. Naturally, other embodiments of theseelectric refrigeration means can be envisaged in the context of thepresent invention.

The cabinet 1 also comprises two stoppers 24 and 26 for aspiratingrespectively the bottle 3 and the bottle 4. These two stoppers 24 and 26being identical, only the stopper 24, shown on a large scale in FIGS. 3to 6, is described below in greater detail.

The stopper 24 comprises a hollow rigid outer shell 28, made in thisinstance in two portions, respectively a bottom portion 28A, shown alonein FIG. 5, and a top portion 28B shown alone in FIG. 6, these twoportions 28A and 28B being assembled fixedly together, as in FIGS. 3 and4, when the stopper 24 is in service.

The stopper 24 is furnished with a flexible skirt 30 capable of beinginserted in a substantially coaxial manner into the neck of the bottle 3in order to form a sealed contact with this neck, advantageouslyenhanced by sealing lips 31 which extend on the outer periphery of theskirt 30. The skirt 30 delimits internally an aspiration passageway 32,which, when this skirt is housed in the neck of the bottle 3, opens atits bottom end into this bottle neck, while its top end opens inside theshell 28, more precisely into a sealed manifold 34 (FIG. 5) in fluidiccommunication with the end 36A of a long flexible duct 36. In theexemplary embodiment considered here, the skirt 30 is secured to thebottom shell portion 28A, passing right through it, and this shellportion 28A supports, on its side directed toward the top shell portion28B, the manifold 34 and the duct end 36A.

The duct 36 runs from the stopper 24 inside a flexible sheath 38arranged so as to be able to move freely in the volume V₆, up to anelectric vacuum pump 40, shown in FIG. 2 partially and schematically,and in FIG. 7 symbolically.

Advantageously, notably for reasons of electrical integration and spacelimitation, the vacuum pump 40 is situated in the same region ofarrangement 18 as the refrigeration means 12 and it is electricallysupplied by the same cable 14 as these means 12. In practice, the vacuumpump 40 is for example mounted electrically in parallel with therefrigeration means 12, with possible interposition of electrictransformers if necessary. Therefore, in FIG. 7, the electric connectionof the pump -40 is considered between a ground line 42 and a nonzeropotential line 44.

When the pump 40 is electrically supplied, it aspirates the air at theend 36B of the flexible duct 36, which progressively lowers the airpressure in the duct 36 and the aspiration passageway 32 if the skirt 30is engaged in a sealed manner in the neck of the bottle 3.

In order to control the activation of the vacuum pump 40, that is to sayto establish or interrupt its electrical supply, the supply circuit ofthe pump is fitted with a manual switch 46 and a vacuostat 48. As shownin FIG. 7, the pump 40, the vacuostat 48 and the switch 46 are mountedin series between the ground line 42 and the potential line 44.Physically, the vacuostat 48 is installed in the same arrangement region18 as the pump 40 while the switch 46 is supported by the shell 28 ofthe stopper 24, more precisely is mounted on the top shell portion 28A,as can be clearly seen in FIGS. 3 and 6. Accordingly, electric wires,not shown, connect on the one hand the vacuum pump 40 and the vacuostat48, arranged in the region 18, and, on the other hand, the terminals ofthe switch 46, that can be accessed inside the shell 28, these electricwires running inside the sheath 38.

The vacuostat 48 is sensitive to the pressure at the outlet of thevacuum pump 40, that is to say to the pressure prevailing in the duct 36and the aspiration passageway 32, as shown schematically in FIG. 7 by avacuum line 50 connecting the end of the duct 36B and the vacuostat 48.The circulation of the electric current through the vacuostat depends onthe value of the pressure in the line 50: when the pressure in this line50 is above a predetermined value strictly below the atmosphericpressure, in other words when the line 50 is in over-pressure relativeto the aforementioned predetermined value, the vacuostat 48 is closed,that is to say that the electric current passes through it, while, whenthe pressure in the line 50 is below the aforementioned predeterminedvalue, in other words when the line 50 is in under-pressure relative tothis predetermined value, the vacuostat 48 is open, that is to say thatit stops electricity circulating through it. In practice, theaforementioned predetermined value is chosen to be substantially equalto 300 millibars below atmospheric pressure. Other vacuum pressurevalues can be envisaged, when they significantly slow the deteriorationof the gustatory and organoleptic qualities of the wine to be kept.

The electric supply circuit of the pump 40 is also furnished with alight-emitting diode 52, mounted in parallel with the pump 40 and withthe vacuostat 48, between the switch 46 and the ground line 42. Thediode 52 is supported by the stopper 24, while being housed in athrough-hole of the bottom shell portion 28B so as-to illuminate thezone situated directly below the shell portion 28A.

The stopper 24 is also provided internally with a permanent magnet 54,situated against the inner face of the upper shell portion 28B, as canbe seen in FIG. 6. This magnet is powerful enough to keep the stopper 24by magnetic effect against the lower face 6A₁ of the ceiling wall 6A ofthe enclosure 6, this wall 6A including an appropriate ferromagneticlayer, at least partially situated vertically above the support 10.

Similarly, the support 10 comprises a ferromagnetic layer with which themagnet incorporated into the vacuum stopper 26 interacts by magneticeffect in order to keep this stopper in contact with the support 10 whenthe shell of this stopper is pressed against the lower face 10 ₁ of thesupport.

The operation of the cabinet 1 is as follows.

Initially, it is considered that the cabinet 1 contains only horizontalbottles of wine 2. There is no bottle on the supports 10 and 11.

In order to keep, notably for several days, the opened bottle of wine 3,the user opens the door 6C and places the bottle 3 on the support 10.With one hand, he then picks up the vacuum stopper 24 which, until then,was kept pressed against the lower face 6A₁ of the ceiling wall 6A,under the magnetic action of the magnet 54. The user easily separatesthe stopper 24 from the ceiling wall 6A having to overcome the magneticattraction associated with the magnet 54. The user then freely moves thestopper 24 to the neck of the bottle 3, the sheath 38 and the duct 36deforming flexibly inside the volume V₆. The user inserts the skirt 30into the neck of the bottle, then actuates the switch 46 so as to allowthe circulation of electricity through this switch. In practice, theuser manually flips an actuation button of the switch, of the on/offtype.

To the extent that the pressure in the aspiration passageway 32 is, atthis time, substantially equal to atmospheric pressure, the vacuostat 48is in the closed position. The vacuum pump 40 is then supplied withelectricity and progressively aspirates the bottle 3. When the pressurein the upper portion of this bottle reduces and reaches theaforementioned predetermined value, this pressure value is communicatedto the vacuostat 48 via, in succession, the passageway 32, the duct 36and the line 50, which opens the vacuostat and switches off the supplyof electricity to the pump. If the level of evacuation subsequentlypasses over the predetermined value, the vacuostat closes again and thepump 40 is reactuated in order to lower the pressure in the bottle 3.The level of evacuation in the bottle 3 is thus controlled automaticallyand, as necessary, is readjusted without additional intervention on thepart of the user.

Furthermore, while the switch 46 is closed, the diode 52 is on, whichmakes it an indicator that the stopper 24 is operating, and itilluminates the bottle 3 which is thus clearly brought to the attentionof the user, including after the closure of the door 6C if the latterallows the light to pass through.

When the user desires to drink the wine contained in the bottle 3, heopens the switch 46, by manually actuating its button, and then removesthe skirt 30 from the neck of the bottle 3, notably by successivelytilting the stopper 24 from side to side so as to deform the skirt andallow the outside air into the top portion of the bottle. To prevent thestopper 24 hanging limply in the volume V₆, the user presses it againstthe lower face 6A₁ of the ceiling wall 6A so that the magnet 54 keeps itin place against this wall.

By using the stopper 26 in the same manner, the user is capable ofkeeping the second opened bottle of wine 4 after having placed it in theenclosure 6 on the support 11.

In addition to being able to simultaneously keep the two opened bottles3 and 4 in the cabinet 1, the main value relating to the presence of thetwo vacuum stoppers 24 and 26 is associated with the fact that they aresituated at different respective heights and that, by coolingexclusively, or more generally essentially, the bottom portion of thevolume V₆, the refrigeration means 12 produce a temperature gradientthat increases between the floor wall 6B and the ceiling wall 6A of theenclosure 6. The temperature difference between these two walls maytherefore reach approximately ten degrees. In these circumstances, forbetter tasting, the bottle 4 is preferably a bottle of white wine, whilethe bottle 3 is preferably a bottle of red wine, which are for examplekept at respective temperatures of approximately 8° and 15° C.

As a variant, the cabinet 1 may be arranged to make it possible tochange the direction of the cooled air flows 16 produced by itsrefrigeration means 12. Therefore, by means of an appropriate control,these air flows may instead be directed from the wall 20 into the wholevolume V₆, which results in evening out the temperature in this volume.It is understood that, depending on whether the bottles 2, 3 and 4contain white wine and/or red wine, the user is then capable of checkingthe temperature values in the enclosure 6 in the vertical direction, byattenuating or by amplifying the temperature difference between thefloor wall 6B and the ceiling wall 6A of the enclosure as a function ofthe direction of the air flows 16 admitted into the volume V₆.

To the extent that the stoppers 24 and 26 are freely movable in theenclosure 6, they may be positioned so as not to interfere with theunopened necks of bottles placed vertically on the supports 10 and 11.In this case, the ferromagnetic layers respectively associated with themagnets of the stoppers are advantageously designed to be sufficientlyextensive to immobilize far enough away from the necks of unopenedbottles the stoppers thus not being used to aspirate the bottles.

Various arrangements and variants of the cabinet 1 described hithertomay also be envisaged. For example:

in order to fix the position of each vacuum stopper 24, 26 when it isnot installed on the neck of a vertical bottle to be kept, this stoppermay, instead of being held by the magnetic effect of its magnet, beaccommodated in a housing that is substantially complementary of itsouter shell, these housings for accommodating the stoppers 24 and 26preferably being situated vertically above the support 10, respectivelythe support 11;

the cabinet 1 incorporates normal arrangements for refrigerated cabinetsfor keeping bottles; the cabinet 1 is for example fitted with atemperature indicator; and/or

optionally, the refrigeration means 12 include a “boost” function, thatis to say that they include arrangements designed to temporarilyincrease their production of cold, for example when the user desires toaccelerate the cooling of one or more bottles that he has just stored inthe enclosure 6.

1. A cabinet for keeping bottles, in particular bottles of wine,comprising: an enclosure for horizontally storing unopened bottles,electric means for refrigerating the internal volume of the enclosure,at least one vacuum stopper for an opened bottle arranged vertically inthe internal volume of the enclosure, this vacuum stopper beingincorporated so as to be freely movable inside the enclosure anddelimiting an aspiration passageway that is suitable for emerging in asealed manner in the neck of the opened bottle, and which is connectedto an electric vacuum pump via a circuit that is at least partlyflexible, and control means for controlling the vacuum pump, which aresuitable for activating the vacuum pump when the air pressure in theaspiration passageway is greater than a predetermined value and whichcomprise a manual on/off switch supported by the vacuum stopper.
 2. Thecabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the control means comprise avacuostat which is sensitive to the air pressure in the aspirationpassageway and which is suitable in service for switching off andreestablishing the electric supply of the vacuum pump depending onwhether this air pressure is respectively below or above thepredetermined value.
 3. The cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein thecircuit, which connects the aspiration passageway and the vacuum pump,and electric wires, which connect the switch and the vacuum pump, runinside the same flexible sheath arranged in a freely movable manner inthe internal volume of the enclosure.
 4. The cabinet as claimed in claim1, wherein the vacuum stopper is provided with a lighting meansactivated by the control means so that, when the aspiration passagewayemerges into the neck of the opened bottle and the switch is on, thislighting means is on and lights this opened bottle.
 5. The cabinet asclaimed in claim 4, wherein the lighting means is a diode.
 6. Thecabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vacuum stopper is providedwith a magnet and wherein the internal volume of the enclosure is atleast partially delimited by a ferromagnetic wall.
 7. The cabinet asclaimed in claim 6, wherein the cabinet is internally provided with aspecific support for placing vertically and in a stable manner an openedbottle to be aspirated by the vacuum stopper, this support beingsituated vertically beneath the ferromagnetic wall.
 8. The cabinet asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the vacuum stopper is provided with a magnetand wherein the internal volume of the enclosure contains aferromagnetic element.
 9. The cabinet as claimed in claim 8, wherein thecabinet is provided internally with a specific support for placingvertically and in a stable manner an opened bottle to be aspirated bythe vacuum stopper, this support being situated vertically beneath theferromagnetic element.
 10. The cabinet as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe enclosure comprises, in its internal volume, an accommodatinghousing for accommodating the vacuum stopper, suitable for fixedlyholding the stopper in the absence of a bottle to be aspirated.
 11. Thecabinet as claimed in claim 10, wherein the cabinet is internallyprovided with a specific support for placing vertically and in a stablemanner an opened bottle to be aspirated by the vacuum stopper, thissupport being situated vertically beneath the accommodating housing. 12.The cabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein at least two vacuum stoppersare provided, situated at different respective levels in the verticaldirection so that one of these two stoppers can be used to aspirate avertical bottle, notably of white wine, situated in a bottom portion ofthe internal volume of the enclosure, while the other stopper can beused to aspirate another vertical bottle, notably of red wine, situatedin a top portion of this internal volume, and wherein the refrigerationmeans are suitable for supplying a flow of cooled air which is admittedinto the internal volume of the enclosure essentially, or evenexclusively, in the bottom portion of this internal volume.
 13. Thecabinet as claimed in claim 1, wherein the refrigeration means and thevacuum pump are electrically mounted in parallel from one and the samesource of electricity supply.
 14. The cabinet as claimed in claim 1,wherein the refrigeration means and the pump are arranged jointly in oneand the same region of the cabinet.